Kitchen Table Update - WIP #2

Time for another update, combining most of my 28mm builds at the moment. I tinker in the evenings on the kitchen table. Currently the shots show,

• BAM Pzr IV , Schwimwagen and Sdkfz 9,
• JTFM Pzr IV, Puma and 234 8-Rads, 251/D's
• Army Group North , Stug III's
• Company B - Adler

All have mods some more than others. Following some comments, i will add that these additions and alterations are not always necesary and not a true reflection on the basic kit. I position my work at showcase standard and continually try and improve, hence all the mods and extras.

• Panzer IVs, not much more done to these, fiddled around with some more stowage and completed the schurzen on the JTFM one. Am toying with some camo nets but cant get it just right.
• Schwimwagen, i love this kit! although theres not to much you can do with a four seater. Added generic stowage, zeltbahn cover ( use of lead foil from posh wine, thanks Julia! ( who still looks at me funny when i ask for it!) and rope drop rope for the motor.
• SDkfz 9, this will be a SCW version so had to disguise some of the late war stowage, hopefully effectively with a "green stuff" discarded jacket.
• 8- RADs - I love these as well. These are just me playing, will be very late war schemes i thing. Metal foil fule can straps added and helmets and their straps
• 251/D - quite a bit of work here and very much WIP. The JTFM is the best 251 available and has lovely interior details. Downside is the assembling, i should really do a two part paint for these but that would double the time and increase the price accordingly. You will see green modellers putty on the body joints, still working on these. Have added internal rod bars for kit stowage and started to add green stuff kit etc. Nice advantage with these is that the rear doors can be cut open with a little bit of work.
• The Stugs are almost there. Interesting point with these, and my work in general, is where do you stop. I could do more, noticably the tools dont have any securing points which is bugging me but will stop on these now.
• Adler, not much added at the moment, added a BAM schwim/kubel driver. This will probably move right with a Horch which has just arrived.
  

Finishing: you'll notice several different finishes, from grey primer, to balck undercoat, to white metal and resin. With modern resins it is important to clean and prime correctly. I use an enamel plastic primer ( hence the grey) and then a black primer undercoat. Some have this already as they were "around" when spraying. These will all receive another primer grey and black undercoat. This will then be touched up with enamel ( Humbrol).

I havent posted pics of all the mods talked about here, however there is now a WIP folder up on my flickr gallery, which has more.

M10s & Achilles - Simple Updetailing

A Simple Project
The basic resin kit is 1/60 and from S and S models. The same hull and turret suffices for both the M10 and the Achilles, with substitute breech and barrels dependant on the version you get. I have been informed the kit represents a late variant without the armour attachment points ( circles on hull and turret) and rear stowage racks. I have made several of these in this configuration and they've came out fine, however they are distinctive elements of the vehicles so i decided on some simple up detailing for a commission Achilles and two M10s. I will add this is not a scale conversion, but simple modifications that most of us can do with a little effort. If i was doing a single top notch kit i would approach things differently.

The Hull
I first started with the racking on the rear sides, this is a simple affair using plastic strips from my spares box. I obtained extra Sherman tracks from Shaun and the only point of note is to make the spaces between vertical racking correct to fit track links. Next came the armour securing points these were slithers of plastic rod. I found getting square edges on the cut surfaces difficult so i super glued these in place by eye and filed flat once dry. Its adequate but I'm sure there's better methods out there. As with most things i then looked at my references and thought there's something missing..... the hull headlamps and what are presumably Turret and Hull slinging points. The slinging points where made from brass rod bent around the edge of some snipe nosed pliers. Once snipped to size the edges were dremeled flat and simply glued in the appropriate positions. These leaves the lamps, again the trusty wire was bent and dremeled and appropriate headlamps were found.
Note: I would now approach either BAM or Brent at Company B for either the M3 headlamps or the excellent set for the Company B hellcat and HMC. I'm not sure they are available separately but you can only ask :o)
Finally, all the barrels were replaced with brass tubing, unfortunatley the original barrels have poor definition.

Stowage
Now the hard bits were done i added the stowage. This was a rummage through my spares box which has been recharged with bits from the following ranges:

Chieftain Models, Bolt Action, Company B, S and S Models, Skytrex ( 20mm but a tarpaulin is a tarpaulin...), Hovels ( boxes)

I recommend picking up stowage whenever you can, I'm forever running out and mixing and matching produces the best results. Besides the gun barrel and breech the only things that separate the three models are the BAM helmets, British for the Achilles and you can guess the rest. A point on scale here, the kit is 1/60, i've used spares and parts from 1/56 ranges and stowage from 1/72 ranges, its all good. The .50 cals are BAM and are the best i've seen.

The sandbags were simple milliput rolls, roll a sausage and cut into equal segments. the action of the blade creates as suitable edge for the sandbag. These were then positioned around the vehicles and stitch lines added with a sculpting tool.



Painting
Not the intention of this update but the kits were then primed fully using spray black and touched up with Humbrol Black to create a solid coat. It is important to have a solid base coat ( whatever colour you choose) as a base for further painting. The kits were then airbrushed using Tamiya olive green and furthered detailed with lighter shadings. Once happy with your basic tones, cover with Johnsons Klear ( Future). This produces a sheen but dont worry, it gives a solid coat for further washing techniques. Various pin washes were added (concentrating on the detail recesses) stains and scratching etc.
At this stage i then paint the details, tracks, wheel rims, stowage and .50 cals. The weathering process for the vehicle is always seperate to the stowage. Pigments were applied at various stages and fixed with white spirit. Once happy the model was sprayed with Testors ( RIP - what am i going to use now!).
note: don't start burnishing the tracks and 50 cals until after the testors, understandably it dulls the burnish!

And finally additional pigments are used to "pull" the model together. I'm quiet happy with the results. The Achilles is off to a happy customer in Australia, the M10s are up for grabs, contact me for details. Both the finished kits and Work in Progress (WIP) shots can be found below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/troop-of-shewe/collections/

neil"at"troop-of-shewe.co.uk